College Women's Basketball: Wolves upend Sioux

April 03, 2007|By American News Sports Staff

GRAND FORKS, N.D. - The Northern State women's basketball team discovered a way to quiet a large University of North Dakota home crowd. The Wolves built a 14-point lead in the first half and never trailed after that on the way to a 71-65 win on Tuesday at Betty Engelstad Sioux Center. The Sioux were ranked second in the NCAA II poll to start the season. The Sioux lost their home opener for the first time in 19 seasons and the first under UND head coach Gene Roebuck. It marked just the fourth home loss by North Dakota since the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center opened in 2004-05. The Wolves also snapped a home regular season winning streak of 41 games for the Sioux dating back to 2005. In the last meeting between Northern and North Dakota, the Sioux won in a regional game last March. "Our players wanted to show people we weren't as bad as the way we played last year in the regional," said NSU women's coach Curt Fredrickson. "We had a lot of people step up. Nicole Hall played well in the first half and Carolin Becker in the second half. We have two senior North Dakota forwards (Miranda Boepple of Dickinson, N.D., and Becker of Beulah, N.D.) and what a fun way for them to remember their senior year by beating North Dakota at home." - orthern State starting taking control of the game with about 12 minutes remaining in the first half. The Sioux held a 9-6 lead, but the Wolves would outscore the home team 23-5 to stretch the lead to 14 points at 29-15. Although UND made three straight three-point field goals with less than four minutes remaining in the half the home team still trailed 32-26 at halftime. - orthern's philosophy for the game was to pack the match-up defense down low to slow down the Sioux interior game and challenge North Dakota to hit the outside shot. Roebuck, who was honored for his 500th career win before the game, thought his team needed to play with more enthusiasm. "We came out flat," Roebuck said. "We didn't play with any emotion. Northern did a nice job with their offense." - orthern received a second half boost from one of the North Dakota natives on its roster as Becker opened the final half with 11 points in the first five minutes. The Sioux were not finished and rallied at the end of the game. UND outscored NSU 19-7 to pull within 56-54 with eight minutes left in the game. The Wolves stepped to the free throw line to wrap up a win by making 11 of 14 free throws in the closing minutes. With one minute to go in the game Ryanne Brockhaus drained two free throws for a 68-59 NSU lead. Freshman Allison Johnson sealed the game with three free throws in the closing seconds. Becker and Hall had 17 points each, followed by Boepple with 13 points. The game featured two women's basketball coaches who have combined to win more than 1,100 games as Fredrickson improved to 616-183 in his career. - orthern State will return to action at the Hampton Inn & Suites Tournament hosted by Northwest Nazarene in Nampa, Idaho. The Wolves will play Fort Lewis (Colo.) at 2 p.m. (MST) Friday and either Northwest Nazarene or Hawaii Hilo at 3 or 5 p.m. (MST) on Saturday. - ORTHERN STATE (4-0): Carolin Becker 6-8 5-5 17, Noelle Hall 8-15 1-1 17, Miranda Boepple 5-10 2-2 13, Melissa Braaten 3-6 2-2 9, Ryanne Brockhaus 1-2 2-4 5, Allison Johnson 0-2 3-4 3, Jessica Deinert 1-2 0-0 3, Claire Honer 1-2 0-0 2, Celia Westphal 1-4 0-0 2, Kimberly Lewis 0-0 0-0 0, Jaclyn Arns 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 26-52 15-18 71. - ORTH DAKOTA (5-1): Karla Beck 5-11 0-0 14, Kierah Kimbrough 3-7 6-8 12, Kayla Bagaason 4-7 0-0 10, Jossy Bergan 3-6 0-0 9, Ashley Langen 3-6 0-2 6, Kelsey Maffin 1-9 4-4 6, Carissa Jahner 2-9 0-0 4, Val Sannes 1-6 0-4 2, Danye Guinn 0-5 2-2 2, Jordan Holthusen 0-1 0-0 0, Alys Seay 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-67 12-20 65. Halftime score - Northern 32-26. 3-point field goals - Northern State 4-9 (Boepple 1-1, Brockhaus 1-2, Braaten 1-3, Deinert 1-2, Westphal 0-1), North Dakota 9-27 (Beck 4-7, Bergan 3-6, Bagaason 2-3, Maffin 0-4, Jahner 0-2, Guinn 0-4, Holthusen 0-1). Total fouls - Northern State 12; North Dakota 18. Rebounds - Northern 42 (Boepple 8); North Dakota 35 (Kimbrough 9). Turnovers - Northern State 15; North Dakota 7. Assists - Northern 22 (Boepple 5); North Dakota 18 (Guinn 5). Steals - Northern State 4; North Dakota 10 (Jahner 3). Blocked shots - Northern State 0; North Dakota 4 (Kimbrough 3).